Process of making combined knit and felt boots



(No Model.) a

S. G. ALEXANDER.

PROCESS OF MAKING COMBINED KNIT AND FELT BOOTS. No. 318,342. I Patent dMay 19, 1885.

WITNESSES INVENTOR (2% I,

Attorney N. PETERS. PMv-Uhognphr, wnmm 0.x.

UN T STATES PATENT OFFIcet SAMUEL G. ALEXANDER, OF DETROIT, ASSIGNOR TO 0. E. \VAKEMAN & 00.,

OF PONTIAC, MICHIGAN.

PROCESS OF MAK INGCOMBINED KNIT AND FELT BOOTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 318,342, dated May 19, 1885. Application filed January 1885. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, SAMUEL G. ALEXAN- DER, of Detroit, county of WVayne State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of Making Combined Knit and Felt Boots; and I declare the following to beafull, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates more particularly to that part of the process by which the wool is incorporated with the knit or woven woolen stocking.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a thick bat of soft wool as it comes from the card. Fig. 2 represents the same bat after it has been partially felted down or hardened. Fig. 3 represents a flat form of zinc or other equivalent substance. Fig. at represents the flat form with a loosely-woven stocking in much enlarged form stretched over it. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the same with two layers of the felted o'r hardened bat stretched over the same. Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the same with a jacket fastened over the whole. Fig. 7 represents a section across the package shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 represents the package as it would appear after going through the felting process, whereby the felted sheets are incorporated with the knit or woven wool fabric.

It will be understood at the outset that the felted boot herein referred to is made by incorporating bats of wool with an enlarged stocking, felting the two together so as to thoroughly incorporate them, then fulling, and thereby reducing the article to the proper size for a boot, and finally finishing and shaping the boot over a suitable last or form,which I gives to it its finished shape.

This invention pertains, first, to that part of the process by which the wool bats and the knitted or woven woolen stocking are incorporated together; and, secondly, to the entire process of making the finished boot, in which the foregoing process enters as an elementary part.

In carrying out my invention, A represents a loosely knit or woven woolen stocking of greatly enlarged form which is to form the basis of the finished boot. It is quite important that this should be loosely knit or woven in order to leave very open meshes to facilitate the incorporation with it of the wool bat.

B is a fiat form, preferably of zinc, although it may be made of galvanized iron or any oth er substance which will not be attacked by the heat, steam, or other elements of the felting bat, and which will not be injured by thejiggers in the process of felting.

0 represents a loose, thick bat of wool as it comes from the card. This bat of wool is subsequently by the felting process felted down or hardened, so that it is no longer a bat of loose, fluffy, soft wool, but is a sheet of felted or hardened wool, O, of sufficient strength to meet the requirements of the remainder of the process.

D is a jacket, preferably of linen or cotton cloth, provided with tapes or other fastenings, d, for binding it over the materials upon the forms.

The form B is put into the stocking A, so

turned inside out, so that in the finished boot the stocking will be upon the exterior and the felting upon theinterior, although this may be just the reverse; or, if desired, the felting might be applied to both sides of the stocking. The process will be described,however, only in connection with a boot which has the stocking as its outer surface and an interior lining of felt. Having turned the stocking inside out and stretched it over the form, I take a sheet of the hardened or felted bat O. I lay upon this sheet the stocking and its form and fold over the edges of the sheet 0' so as to completely cover the stocking. The sheet is drawn quite tight over the edges of the form, as shown in Fig. 5, so that at these edges the sheet will be considerably compressed, although care is taken not to tear the sheet by stretched over the fomn upon the first layer of felt. It is made to draw as closely as possible at the edges of the form. Its edges are lapped and scarfed, as above. I also usually either upon the first layer or the last layer of felt take off smaller pieces of the bat and stretch the said pieces over the parts which are to form the heel and toe piece and instep, so'as re-enforce or give additional thickness and strength to the boot at these points. Haying thus stretched the felted sheet or sheets 0 upon the form, as described, the Whole is placed within the jacket D. This jacket is very carefully adjusted into place, so as not to draw upon the felt at any point. It is then smoothed out and stretched over the form at every part carefully with the hands, and is then tightened very snugly by the tapes (2 or secured by other suitable fastenings. It will beobserved, as shown in Fig. 7, that the jacket has served to still further compress the felted hats at the edges of the form, while it has to a certain extent compressed the whole package to more compact form than that shown in Fig. 5, without tearing the bats 0 either at the edges or upon the faces of the form. The whole package is now placed in a jigger and the felting process is continued until the bats (3 are thoroughly incorporated with the stocking and with each other. The felting process having been completed, the form is removed from within the stocking,

the whole is again turned, so that the stocking shall be upon the outside and the felting upon the inside, (or it may be fulled and then i turned.) It is then fulled until it is reduced to proper dimensions, and is then shaped up and given its finished form upon a suitable last, which gives to it the shape of the finishedboot.

It will be observed that the sheet 0 as it comes from the card is very thick, loose, soft, and fluffy and has not sufficient strength to admit of being folded over the form and brought closely up to its edges without either tearing the bat at the edges or more frequently edges of the form.

along the faces of the form. The soft wool would therefore be left very thick along the Now, when the second layer of this loose soft bat is applied to the first the difficulty is greatly increased, for the mass presents at this time a thickness of, say, six inches, more or less, and projects well out beyond both edges of the form. If this is now placed within ajacket, and the jacket is tied as closely as possible, it will still be very thick,

' soft, and fluffy. If this should be subsequently placed in the jigger, the very first effect of the felting process is to quickly reduce the thick ness of the package. The jacket, which was filled with the wool, which here felts into a thick welt. The existence of this welt renders the production of a perfect boot impossible, for either the welt must remain in the article or else it must be shaved off, thus cutting the fibers and weakening the product so as to sustain but little Wear. The effect also of the wool being in this soft condition, so as not to hold its own and to crowd off over the edge of the form, is to render the product of non-uni form thickness, more wool crowding off from some localities than from others, and with such liability it is apparent'that no two boots would be apt to be alike in quality. It is therefore of the greatest importance in the manufacture of a boot of this character, in which a woven or knitted wool stocking is incorporated with a surface of felt, that the wool, instead of being taken in its loose fluffy form as it is in the bat when it comes from the card, should be I first reduced in thickness and madeharder and stronger byfirst felting or hardening the carded bat in a jigger. j

Heretofore stockings have been made by first providing a stocking of woolen yarn which a knitted or woven wool stocking is in- V corporated with a layer of felt, the process herein described of incorporating said stocking and felt, which consists in firststretching the stocking upon a flat form, and, second,

applying to the said stocking one or more bats of wool which previous to their application are reduced in thickness and'hardened and strengthened by the felting process, then incasing and compressing the same by a jacket stretched snugly over the form, and finally submitting the said package thus made to the felting process in a jigger, substantially as set forth.

2. In the manufacture of boots in which there is combined a knit or woven woolen stocking and a surface of felt, the employment of a flat form within the stocking for stitching the latter and bats of wool which are first reduced in thickness and hardened and strengthened by the felting process, and subsequently applied to the stocking substantially as described.

3. As a means for insuring a uniform layer of felt upon the stocking, the combination, with the stocking in the process of manufacupon thetlat form,

ture of the boot, of an interior fiat form, one In testimony whereof I sign this specificaor more layers of wool in the form of a bat tion in the presence of two witnesses.

which has been previously reduced in thickness, hardened, and strengthened in the felt SAMUEL G. ALEXANDER. ing process and subsequently applied to the stocking, and a close-fitting jacket adjusted Witnesses:

over the whole before finally felting, substan- M. B. ODOGHERTY, tially as described. N. S. WRIGHT. 

